Description

Presents the pivotal role of food culture in the Islamic world. This book will appeal to anyone interested in food and the culture of food. It is written by respected scholars from varied disciplines, and covers a wide range of geographical areas. This pioneering book considers the culinary cultures of the Middle East in a variety of contexts. Written by scholars from different disciplines - history, sociology, geography, anthropology and literature - it covers a wide geographical area, from Central Asia to Morocco.

About Author

Richard Tapper is Professor of Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Sami Zubaida is a Reader in Sociology at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Contents

Introduction, Richard Tapper and Sami Zubaida - food production in the Middle East, Tony Allen, national, communal and global dimensions in Middle Eastern food cultures, Sami Zubaida. Part 1 Cuisines, dishes, ingredients: from the Caucasus to the roof of the world - a culinary adventure, Bert Fragner; social reality and culinary fiction - the perspective of cookbooks from Iran and Central Asia, Bert Fragner; the "meyhane" or "McDonald's? changes in eating habits and the evolution of fast food in Istanbul, Holly Chase; the taste for layered bread among the nomadic Turks and the central Asian origins of baklava, Charles Perry; rice in the culinary cultures of the Middle East, Sami Zubaida; "al-kishk" - the past and the present of a complex culinary practice, Francoise Aubaile-Sallenave. Part 2 Food and the social order: the revival of traditional cooking in modern Arabic cookbooks, Peter Heine; Jewish food in the Middle East, Claudia Roden; food and gender in a Yemeni community, Ianthe Maclagan; you are what you cook - cuisine and class in Mecca, Mai Yamani; eating habits and cultural boundaries in Northern Iran, Christian Bromberger. Part 3 The language of food: beyond taste -the complements of colour and smell in the mediaeval Arab culinary tradition, Manuela Marin; blood, wine and water - social and symbolic aspects of drinks and drinking in the Islamic Middle East, Richard Tapper; of leaven foods - Ramadan in Morocco, Abdelhai Diouri; food as a semiotic code in Arabic literature, Sabry Hafez.